rjkara, u have every right to defend that area as after all that is where you will be staying. Now i haven't visited. I am not even from London but I have cousins who live there. I am just sharing with you all information they have passed onto me. I got an offer from Great Dover but I turned in down because of the rep it has not just with LSE students but Londoners in general- moreover after hearing from my family in London there was no way my parents were even going to let me stay there. It is near Borough and Elephant and Castle- not a safe area. The area is associated with poverty and high crime and muggings. On the other hand you have places like Kensington, Chelsea- the best areas in London. It is not impossible to find affordable housing there. I'am living in a student hall in Chelsea.

You can take your chances, students have loved it and hated it. You can speak to Londo in this fourm. He lived there 1st year and vowed never to go back.

In response to your question rjkara, the residence was built a long time ago. Things and situations have changed since then. Property prices there are also so cheap compared to other areas. The distance to school is average- so all in all it makes sense for LSE financially. Why do you think it is a 'postgraduate preferred' hall? something tells me its to do with its location and the fact that postgraduates only stay for a year and then leave therefore nobody will complain. Also to add weight to my argument, Great Dover is hardly anyone's first choice when applying for accommodation. I got a room because my other choices were filled and they only had spare rooms here- now that tells you something if this hall is least requested.

rawr, I am not familiar with Hackney Road. As I said I am not form London so maybe you should ask someone like Xanthe who is a Londoner or current LSE students, they may be able to help you further.

I'm sorry if I have offended anyone who is or will stay at Great Dover. But if someone asks for an opinion I think it's good on my part to give you the facts as I see it. How you take it is up to you, after all it is you who will have to spend a year there.

Anyway hope I haven't typed out a long post for nothing. Hope I have been of some assistance one way or another.

hi, Im also going to be staying at Great Dover Street this coming yr, thanks for the info shared Leifde. I looked into the area a bit and found this map http://www.breaksinlondon.co.uk/index2.sht, click on the map at the bottom of the page and you will get a much more comprehensive map which will also help you find your way to LSE from GDS.

Anyways, elephant and castle are pretty far from GDS and luckily, I guess, we wont be in that area when walking to rez from school. we will be passing through borough though, but if its really that bad, as you can see from the map, there are alternate routes that can be taken as well, which may add on 5-10 mins onto your journey.

GDS has residences for KCL also which house around 800 students, add in 450 students from lse and thats quite a lot of students walking in that area each night. I wouldnt be worried much.

Im still here in Toronto and havent ever been to london so I may be wrong about some of this.. so if I am I hope someone corrects me.

Hello!!! I am going to Great Dover Street too. Is it really that bad? I got no idea...
I agree that Sunday we could all meet and go to a pub or something... I am doing the Ms in Population and Development (is anybody doing that or the one on Development Studies)?
Paola

Alright...so GDS is having their welcome pub party on the 25th as discussed above and the TSR group is planning one on the 26th. Hopefully everyone can make it out to both and ensure that we start the year off right...hope to see all or at least most of you out and about before school starts (we all retire to our quarters to cry about all the work we have to do!)

I've lived at GDS and it isn't that bad at all. It's a very well-kept building and it has a nice bar, even though its not that busy. Staff are friendly enough (especially the blond-haired receptionist and the old guy at weekends!) and are certainly more easier to talk to than other people within the school. My room was maybe a bit smaller than I would have liked, but it does have en-suite bathrooms and a fridge in every room which some other halls dont.

As for the area, it really isn't as bad as people on here are making out. There are worser areas of London, infact there is a lot of redevelopment going on. You have Borough market and the tate just round the corner as well as many restaurants and pubs, but you need to find them as they are often tucked away from main streets! I was there for two years and only got to know the best places to go in my 2nd year! Future students will have the benefit of what looks to be a big new development at the end of the street near the tube station. There's even a park over the street which students use to play footie, sunbathe, revise etc.

As long as you act sensibly and with common sense (which you'd need in any major city anywhere in the world) you shouldn't have a problem getting around even after dark. My advice is to stick to well-lit streets, keep to main routes and keep moving. I've heard of one or two muggings and a few incidents, but every one seemed to involve drunken students, someone who had their purse in their hand, or someone paying more attention to the song on their iPod! Most of the incidents I heard of were around school though, not neccesarily round the hall.

In my opinion, it is what you make of it. I had really friendly flatmates both years once I got to know them and we had a great time but I did speak to people who didn't have flatmates who they got on with (largely due to a clash of cultures) and they felt a little bit isolated and it took them a while to get to know people.

In hindsight, I should have used the parties right at the start of the year to get to know people within the hall as I was too busy doing school stuff that it took me a while (virtually the whole of the 1st term) to get to know people in GDS. I would reccommend to get to know the people in your hall, then people at school. That way you'll get to know people much quicker as you find you meet people from all courses, not just your own.

Anyway, have nothing to worry about, take it as you find it and you'll be OK - that's my advice, I hope it helps!

(Original post by BigBrother04)
I don't think any new students have anything to worry about!

I've lived at GDS and it isn't that bad at all. It's a very well-kept building and it has a nice bar, even though its not that busy. Staff are friendly enough (especially the blond-haired receptionist and the old guy at weekends!) and are certainly more easier to talk to than other people within the school. My room was maybe a bit smaller than I would have liked, but it does have en-suite bathrooms and a fridge in every room which some other halls dont.

As for the area, it really isn't as bad as people on here are making out. There are worser areas of London, infact there is a lot of redevelopment going on. You have Borough market and the tate just round the corner as well as many restaurants and pubs, but you need to find them as they are often tucked away from main streets! I was there for two years and only got to know the best places to go in my 2nd year! Future students will have the benefit of what looks to be a big new development at the end of the street near the tube station. There's even a park over the street which students use to play footie, sunbathe, revise etc.

As long as you act sensibly and with common sense (which you'd need in any major city anywhere in the world) you shouldn't have a problem getting around even after dark. My advice is to stick to well-lit streets, keep to main routes and keep moving. I've heard of one or two muggings and a few incidents, but every one seemed to involve drunken students, someone who had their purse in their hand, or someone paying more attention to the song on their iPod! Most of the incidents I heard of were around school though, not neccesarily round the hall.

In my opinion, it is what you make of it. I had really friendly flatmates both years once I got to know them and we had a great time but I did speak to people who didn't have flatmates who they got on with (largely due to a clash of cultures) and they felt a little bit isolated and it took them a while to get to know people.

In hindsight, I should have used the parties right at the start of the year to get to know people within the hall as I was too busy doing school stuff that it took me a while (virtually the whole of the 1st term) to get to know people in GDS. I would reccommend to get to know the people in your hall, then people at school. That way you'll get to know people much quicker as you find you meet people from all courses, not just your own.

Anyway, have nothing to worry about, take it as you find it and you'll be OK - that's my advice, I hope it helps!

My parents spent this weekend in London on a romantic getaway (whatever that means after 20 years of marriage . They visited GDS and they were VERY pleasantly surprised. They walked form LSE and it was easy to find. My father lived in London for 6 months and liked the location and thought the area objectively speaking did not look that bad. They walked around the area and saw loads of Bars and the supermarket is literally next door. They loved the building and how new it was. I now have a picture of the launderette and it looks nice. They are usually very hard critics but were although over the moon . Although this could be due to the fact that their student housing was **** and in comparison anything would be good.

Great post Sofie! See, told you all, we have so little to worry about...everything'll be great next year (which oddly enough starts in about 2 weeks!!!!!)...well, see you all then, don't forget about the GDS meet/greet and the TSR meet/greet! Cheers.

I'm here to calm your fears!
Was GDS boring and unsocial in the past? YES.
Will it be the same this year? HELL NO!!!!!!!!!!!
Why am I President this year? Because I wanted to improve things.

GDS has had a bad reputation, some of it deserved some not (I would like to thank the kind post saying the good things about it).

It is not in Elephant and Castle, it's nearer Borough.
Distance to LSE? 40min walk(maximum) along the River, highly recommended. Bus takes 15 mins at night, nearer 30mins in rush hour in the mornings.

I am very glad to see you guys (Sofie, Ellomoto, Bismarck, Rawr, etc) are taking some initiative. I am busy planning Freshers Week events, let me know what you would like to see.
Please email me at [email protected] so I can see it faster. The plans aren't finalise yet, but we will have our Bar open on Sunday, there's no need for you to go elsewhere. I will be personally welcoming everyone, along with 2 of the other Committee members, Omer and Li.

We plan to have a Welcome Event hosted by the Warden on the Wednesday, followed by Karaoke, and then a big party on Saturday October 1st. We will be taking you to Blast Off (at LSE-the official start of Freshers Week) on the Tuesday of Freshers, and of course Crush on Friday. Other than this, we will hopefully have a Pilates class, a football match, guided tours to LSE, pool competition, Quiz night, a restaurant meal for postgrads and a separate one for undergrads, DVD night, Coffee/Cakes event on the 2nd October.

You must be as social as possible in this week, and get all the people you meet out of their flats and into the parties!! Some of them need persuading, we will put up lots of posters, but please do your bit too. In the past GDS has been fairly social at the start, it has only been after a few weeks that this has changed. The BIG DIFFERENCE this year is that the common room will now be open 24/7, it is a great big room with TV, newspapers, pool table, dart board, Bar, and study area. Previously, this room was only open 7pm-11pm 4 nights a week. This can only help the social atmosphere to continue thru the year, to bolster it we will have other events like a Christmas Party, Thanksgiving Party, etc. plus a Pizza night and other things too.

We are looking for extra help for organising such events; if you want to get involved we will be holding elections on Wednesday at the Warden’s Welcome Party, so then is your big chance to make a difference, please do put yourself forward!! So far we have a Committee of 4, we are looking for about 4 more people, but I can’t see us turning down any offers of help to be honest!

I have more to say but for now will just say that I hope you are looking forward to your time here. The area is not bad at all, we have the Tate Modern, Borough food market, Shakespeare’s Globe theatre, basically the South Bank is a ten minute walk, which is very decent for London! There is also a new complex currently being built nearby, with shops, cafes and bars.

EARLY-ARRIVAL POSTGRADUATES!
Please note that when you come on the 21st September, you will not get keys until 2pm at the EARLIEST! Sorry about this but there are many residents moving out on that day, at 10am, and then the rooms need to be cleaned and turned round for your arrival. The later you come , say 4pm, the better.

My apologies but this is as a result of allowing you in early, normally we don't open until 25th.